An impromptu tour of our shop with a little background because Hannah of Orange Barrel Industries asked for photos of home studios. We are lucky here and I like sharing so I took new photos of things you may have seen before, yet still did not clean up first. Bless this mess.
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| C'mon in! | | | |
A year ago, most of my studio was in storage boxes in a suburb of New Orleans and I was in an apartment in Milan with 3 other students, printing on a Gocco press while they slept. I knew I was moving to the Bay Area when I returned to the US but the other details were unclear.
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| Ben's press |
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A friend of a friend was also making the cross country move, with a Vandercook Universal One. I was a printmaker with a press and they were looking for housing to share. That September, our moving trucks met in Oakland and we signed the lease on a corner of land that included 3 buildings, notably a beautiful refinished garage with skylights.
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| future silkscreen and papermaking | |
It took us a few months to unpack and test the press and to accept that our shop would be a work-in-progress. The shop doubles as a music practice space too and motorscycle-parts-storage. Slowly we arrange, work, arrange.
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| at work |
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| inking station |
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| type cabinet and ipod docking station |
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Overall, we are pretty lucky. We have a large wooden workbench for inking and spreading our assortment of unorganized furniture. We have lots of room to grow and beautiful type to use. On sunny days, and most days are sunny, we can open the garage door a little for a sliver of light. Ben is in school and I work 2 or 3 jobs so we print about one day a week on average. This summer I suspect there will be some more thoughtful organizing. I have papermaking supplies and some silkscreen materials too. I have been focusing on making monthly postcards and occasional custom jobs, so we arrange things as needs arise.
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| expanding desk space |
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When I'm not printing, I work in here. This is where I keep projects-in-process, materials, ideas, and books. Even in here, the music equipment shares space. I could probably line my walls with shelves and fill them with hoarded paper, finished journals, postcards. Once a week I clean it up but it naturally returns to chaos.We've only been here six months, but I can usually find what I am looking for. This is also the bedroom I share with the ever-patient Andy, whose guitar sneaks into the photos. My work has been creeping across the room threatening to swallow his desk for years. Even with so much space, supplies expand infinitely. Flat spaces become workspaces. The kitchen table is another place for cutting paper, folding while watching movies. Sinks have dishsoap and lava soap. Working at home.
Thanks for visiting!
